Frozen semen - Page 1

What is your exprience with using frozen semen and was it worth it? I have never done this before and was wanting the good and bad of it. Reason I am wanting to do it this way vs live cover is 1. I don't want to be shipping me female to the other side of the country, to a breeder that will have to take on the respondablitly of keeping my female. 2 the stress that will be put on her. 3 I am wanting new lines and blood not is not available around my area 4 Shipping cost. Thanks

I have had poor results with frozen. I don't consider it an option. I bred about a dozen times and I got three pups, small litters of one in each female. All the pups have died. The sperm thawed well and had excellent mobility. The females all produced good healthy litters before and after the frozen breeding. For me it was a lot of wasted time and money. Do fresh or live cover.

Here in Oz we do not have the luxury of getting to the top Euro dogs and frozen semen is used a lot. We have had a litter of 13 (9 survived) puppies using frozen semen and one of our other biches is pregnant using Magbert semen at least 6 puppies from the ultra sound. The sucess rate here in Oz is very good.

Using frozen semen is not allowd at the SV. If you would like to go to the siegershow ore enter your dog in a show under SV-regulations, they can cancel your dog as soon as they discover that there was no official studwork for that litter. So watch out.

I have not used any of my dogs' frozen semen as yet, but know several people who have used frozen from other dogs, now deceased, and produced normal sized litters. I ship chilled semen. The condition of the semen is very much dependent on the type/quality of the extender used. I had one shipment arrive with less motility than hoped for, possibly due to type of extender one private local vet used. (Something she makes with eggs...?) I will have shipped semen collected, chilled and shipped from Univ. of PA.from now on. Its 30 min. farther to drive, but worth the extra effort for my clients. I will, of course send the next shipment to the woman who received the lesser quality sample for only the cost the VMTH charges for collecting and shipping. It is important to note that the handling of the semen at the destination, and accurate evaluation of the female's stage of estrus are even more important when not breeding with "live cover." I do not charge extra for shipping semen. I figure the effort I do not have to put out to run to the airport twice and/or board the female, and the risks & responsibilities associated with transporting and handling someone else's pride and joy, and absence of the chancer of injury to my dog by an uncooperative (first-timer?) female, easily offsets the time and trouble on my end of running to the Univ. and back. Happily, my dog is EASY to collect from and is extremely fertile as far as concentration (550,000 PPM) and motility (95+). One minute with a swab of "Bitch in a Bottle" over his nose and we get 8-10cc's right away. Easiest money I ever made. LOL Shelley

I know a number of breeders who have had success with using frozen and chilled semen. One recently had a litter of 10 from frozen semen of a deceased dog, another a litter of 8 from a sire that had died in the early 90's. As Shelley said, the extender is important and the skill of the vet doing the semination is also a big factor. If I were going to use it, I'd be sure the vet I used had a good record for success.

Carebear, I too know some breeders in OZ who have had some nice litters with the use of frozen. Some here in the US have also had normal sized litters using semen collected and frozen there.

Ok that leads me to my next question what is the "ball park" figure for doing frozen? I know it will be tack on to the stud service and I am fine with that. Just wanting a heads up before I agree. And do I need a specialist or a well knownledge vet? and what is the entender (OK I am clueless to all of this, please help :) and why would you use eggs? and what should be used? Thanks EK

for frozen, you need to find a vet/repro specialist that has the equipment/knowledge to collect, separate, freeze and store the semen. Not many vets do this. I have frozen semen from two stud dogs stored at a vet in VA - Dr. Dove Companion Animal Hospital. 2+ hours from me - the next closest I believe is Phily - Penn State vet hospital. Most vets cannot do frozen semen. molly

EKvonEarnhardt, I have frozen semen from three different dogs, with all three a repo specialist was used. To fool with frozen semen without a repo specialist, you would be assured failure. There is no other way to say it. PS: We paid about $500 for each dog to collect/test/store- This DOES NOT include whatever stud fee you may pay. Tony